Browns notes: Rumors have Mike Lombardi in running to be GM

Rumors about Mike Lombardi replacing Tom Heckert as Browns general manager continue to swirl less than a month before the regular season ends on Dec. 30.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner continue to say changes, if any, will not be made until the season ends. Neither has hinted whether they plan to replace Heckert or Coach Pat Shurmur, and both are saying the team's final record will not be the only factor in deciding who stays and who goes. The Browns are 4-8.

Hub Arkish, editor and publisher of Pro Football Weekly, was interviewed Monday on the "Bull and the Fox" show on WKRK-FM 92.3 and said sources have told him Banner and Lombardi will be reunited after the season ends.

Lombardi and Banner worked together in Philadelphia in 1997 and '98. Lombardi was a consultant to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie in 1997 and promoted to director of pro personnel in 1998. Lombardi worked for the Raiders from 1999-2007 and has worked on the media side of football for the last five years. He currently is with the NFL Network.

Advertisement

Lombardi was 27 when he was hired as a Browns scout in 1987. He was the pro personnel director in 1989 when Bud Carson was the head coach. He worked closely with Bill Belichick when Belichick was named coach in 1991. Lombardi was named player personnel director in 1994 and held that post for two years. He did not follow the team when Art Modell moved it to Baltimore in 1996.

If Banner chooses Lombardi to replace Heckert, he would be replacing one former associate with another. Heckert worked in the Eagles' front office from 2001-2009. Banner worked for the Eagles from 1994-2012.

Chiefs tragedy

Shurmur has had to deal with some stressful situations in his two years as head coach -- learning on the first day of the 2012 training camp the team was being sold, for one -- but nothing like what Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel is going through.

"I can only imagine what Romeo and his staff and the players ... I guess I don't want to imagine what they went through," Shurmur said Monday. "But you can see what happens when a group of guys bind together for some reason. They played an outstanding football game and won.

"I'm sure they're going to come in here ready to play. We play these games on Sunday, but there's some real-life tragic stuff happening around us all the time, and it's very thought-provoking and sad in some ways. But we have to keep moving forward and keep trying to do the right thing."

One day later, the Chiefs beat Carolina, 27-21. The Browns and Chiefs play Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Playing second fiddle

Montario Hardesty is adapting well to being Trent Richardson's backup. Hardesty carried five times for 39 yards in Oakland. A 19-yard carry matched his career long.

"I told Montario a couple weeks ago, for him, it's not quantity, it's quality," Shurmur said. "When he gets in there, he's had an impact on the football game. That's his role at this point. I think he's been a pro in handling it that way. He's earned the right to carry the football some, and he's done that. I think that's good."

Hardesty has rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown on 36 carries (4.5 yards per attempt).

Shy of perfect

Shurmur lamented the blocked field-goal attempt in the third quarter Sunday that ended Phil Dawson's streak of consecutive field goals made at 29. Dawson is 23 of 24 this season.

"We wanted to be perfect in field goals, and that's no longer there for us," Shurmur said. "We were kicking in a sloppy area and there's no excuse for any of it, but they got a little push there. We couldn't dig in as well as we're used to doing, and they made a play. They made a play on us, so there's not much there other than that."

The block occurred when a drive stalled on the Oakland 10. The Browns were one of three in the red zone Sunday and have scored only 11 touchdowns on 29 red-zone trips this season. That is 31st in the league. Only the Chiefs, 10 of 29, are worse.